MMDS heats up

Multichannel multipoint distribution service continues to be hot property. Last week, Sprint agreed to buy Videotron USA, an MMDS license holder, and Transworld Telecommunications, a part owner of some of Videotron's licenses. Videotron's licenses reach 6.4 million homes in Tampa Bay and Greenville, S.C., as well as six markets along the West Coast. Sprint will spend $210 million on the companies.

Sprint last week also upped the ante by $2 per share for People's Choice TV and agreed to buy 2.2 million more shares from a group of PCTV investors. All told, including its agreement to purchase American Telecasting Inc., Sprint has spent $1.2 billion in the past month on MMDS properties nationwide.

MMDS is the emerging wireless technology that Sprint referred to as one of three access methods it would use to roll out its Integrated On-demand Network, said a spokesman. Sprint plans to make ION available to small businesses and consumers by the end of this year, which is why it is buying up MMDS spectrum now, he added.

MCI WorldCom has also shown interest in MMDS, recently agreeing to purchase CAI Wireless and reportedly buying the debt of four other MMDS players.

Meanwhile, MMDS operators are exhibiting just how powerful their property is. Wireless One, which owns MMDS and wireless communications service spectrum in 11 contiguous states in the Southeast, just completed a six-month test of voice over Internet protocol.

"We combined two new technologies and proved that it works," said Ahmad Shokri, senior vice president of operations and engineering for Wireless One. The voice over IP service used the MMDS spectrum on the downstream and WCS for the upstream and allowed Wireless One to bypass the local operator. Wireless One could use MMDS in both directions, but it didn't have open spectrum at the time.

The company expects to commercially introduce the service in the fourth quarter, after product marketing and pricing has been developed. Wireless One currently serves wireless video to 106,000 customers and offers wireless Internet access in Baton Rouge, La., Jackson, Miss., and Memphis.

In addition to voice over IP, MMDS players are exhibiting digital TV capabilities. SpeedChoice, a subsidiary of PCTV, rolled out a wireless digital TV and music service to Phoenix customers using MMDS. The service offers 165 digital channels, including national and local programming, and allows users to customize their own service packages. With this added service, 95% of Phoenix residents can now order digital TV and high-speed Internet access from SpeedChoice.